A primary teacher and their sporadic views on technology in education, the world and life in general.

13 entries from July 2008

iStori.es is a supremely easy-to-use story-telling device that requires no
manual. All of the instructions necessary to create dynamic output are available
from the on-screen wizard. Load up some pictures, add text, music and sound
effects and BOOM! you have your own interactive story in minutes.

Cut, blend, fade in, push. These cinematic features and many more are
available on iStori.es.

Both are embedded into the website for parents to view without downloading - and now I'm experimenting with making this sort of thing available as a Vodcast, to take away from the computer and view elsewhere.

A website for
teachers, parents, young people and others with an interest in dyslexia
is being launched today by Sir Jim Rose as part of his review into how
children with dyslexia learn best.

Sir
Jim is asking for personal accounts and experiences as well as details
of published research to help inform his development of recommendations
to the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families. The
website will also contain regular updates and information about the
review.

ETS - the company handed a 5 year contract to mark SATs papers, is to face fines of up to "tens of millions" according to the exams watchdog.Apparently this Tuesday will see the KS2 results completed - over a week later than they should have been.

I had some good news at the weekend. One of my wifes work colleagues has a daughter who goes to a school that I briefly taught at (and that almost drove me out of teaching forever). It seems that the physco-head-from-hell (my pet name for the boss there) has retired.

Maybe now the children will be able to enjoy their childhood, and maybe the staff can actually teach without the fear of receiving the green folder "summoning sheet" to face the head.

Well, this is an interesting news item from the city council, coming the first weekday after the closure of several city schools because of falling numbers...

...Officials have said too many small flats have been built and facilities to support family homes are needed. Councillor Alan Clarke said purpose built student accommodation was freeing up traditional homes in the city. But he underlined that any attempt to move families in would have to be sustainable.

"If you start from a position where you do not have the
facilities, most obviously schools, you could be in a situation where
children have to commute out which is a problem," he said.

That last quote is the most damning item in the whole report. When the school reorganisation committee held its meetings this is what the threatened schools argued - that moving students out and families in would see a rise in pupil numbers, and a need for the schools places. Would they listen this argument? No - they knew better.

Well, I expect to see a news report soon announcing that the city council will be re-opening one of the closed schools to cope with rising numbers. Watch this space...

I went to my previous school tonight to bid the staff and building a fond farewell, as today they educated a child for the very last time. As of September, it is no longer an educational establishment.

It was a strange event, different emotions were running throughout. There were happy feelings at seeing people I worked with (it was only 18 months ago, but already it feels like a lifetime), but at the same time there were sad feelings that that great building would no longer ring to the sound of children's laughter, children chanting tables, or working, singing, acting and all sorts of other things.

I did get time to speak to several of the staff who I had the good fortune to work with - the staff who helped me to rediscover my love of teaching after a terrible time at another school before - and was shocked to hear that the council had done exactly what I feared they would. They didn't promise a job for staff, and (good to their word) they haven't. I was appalled that a council could treat it's employee's like that.

So, I'm now going to keep a look out for any jobs for a couple of them - see if anythng is going at my school in the near future in particular, and I hope to keep in better touch with them.

I raise my glass to Douglas - a school like no other. You made me enjoy teaching again, and for that you will always be remembered. And to the staff who stayed to the end - you are the best. I feel honoured to have worked with you.

Apparently, more children in primary schools are eating school dinners following Jamie Olivers healthy meals campaign.Mmmm, not so sure about this. If I look around the dining room of the school there seem to be a lot more sandwich boxes in there than there used to be.

Hot on the heels of being told that the KS2 and KS3 SATs results will not be delivered on time (as had been predicted by the markers themselves weeks ago), we're now being told to expect many mistakes in the test results that will eventually reach us.So the tests that government places so much value on - the ones that they use to assess the ability of both school and child - are so inaccurate this year that we will have to look through each one in great detail to find the mistakes that have been made. And yet still these results will help Ofsted decide if we are good, satisfactory or failing.

Mmmm, makes you think - what rating should we give ETS, the new assessment company. Failing? Or should they just be put straight into special measures.